Douglas Herman is an experienced attorney based in Savannah, Georgia, who serves as Chief Legal Officer and Litigation Director at the Hostilo Law Firm. In this leadership role, Douglas Herman manages firmwide legal operations and supports attorneys handling both pre-suit and active litigation matters, including complex personal injury and coverage cases. Over the course of his career, he has overseen attorneys responsible for generating more than $100 million in combined firm revenue, reflecting the scale and responsibility attached to his position.
A magna cum laude graduate of Widener University School of Law and the University of Pittsburgh Honors College, Douglas Herman has practiced in both Pennsylvania and Georgia at firms such as Marshall Dennehey, Caldwell & Kearns, and Oliver Maner LLP. His experience managing litigation teams underscores the importance of tracking performance metrics that drive efficiency, control risk, and support strategic legal decision-making.
Performance Metrics Litigation Directors Should Track
In high-stakes civil litigation, law firms must strategically manage their litigation portfolios to inform decisions, reduce risk, and demonstrate value to key stakeholders. For litigation directors and senior legal leaders, tracking the right performance metrics ensures continuous improvement in cost management, operational efficiency, and overall litigation.
Although key practice areas and organizations have unique needs, core performance metrics often reveal trends, align litigation functions with organizational goals, and pinpoint weaknesses. For example, cost and financial efficiency metrics matter because litigation is inherently expensive. The ability to quantify and control costs affects a legal department’s credibility and sustainability.
Litigation directors should consider KPIs such as total resolution cost, which captures settlements, legal fees, judgments, and administrative costs for disputes throughout their lifecycle, providing a detailed view of the financial burden of litigation. Legal leaders tend to benchmark these costs against expected outcomes to evaluate strategic spending and identify opportunities to reduce expenses.
Legal spend as a percentage of revenue is also an important metric to consider. This metric tracks both internal and external legal costs relative to overall organizational revenue, helping put litigation expenses in the context of business impact. By reducing this percentage over time, litigation departments will demonstrate greater cost discipline and better strategic alignment with the organization’s broader goals. Further, comparing actual spend with planned budgets per matter or department usually provides insight into forecasting accuracy and fiscal control, allowing litigation directors to adjust resource allocation more proactively.
Operation and workflow efficiency metrics are vital because managing the flow of legal work and optimizing internal processes are important for litigation teams facing heavy caseloads and tight deadlines. Monitoring operational efficiency identifies bottlenecks, supports better resource allocation, and improves throughput.
Matter cycle time measures the average length of time required to resolve a case from inception to closure. It serves as a strong indicator of case management discipline and proactive oversight. Monitoring open matters over time helps leaders understand workload trends and determine whether the team is keeping pace with new filings or accumulating unresolved cases. Workload per attorney further highlights the distribution of responsibilities, allowing leadership to balance assignments, prevent burnout, and maintain consistent productivity across the litigation team.
Beyond operational flow, outcome and risk metrics provide a direct measure of litigation quality and strategic effectiveness. Litigation success rates reveal how often matters resolve favorably through trial outcomes or advantageous settlements, reflecting the strength of preparation and execution. Pre-litigation resolution rates demonstrate the team’s ability to manage disputes early, reduce exposure, and avoid unnecessary litigation costs. Compliance and risk mitigation metrics assess how well legal teams adhere to regulatory requirements and internal standards, helping leadership quantify risk exposure and evaluate the effectiveness of preventive legal strategies.
Productivity and satisfaction metrics ensure that litigation teams deliver value not only efficiently, but also in a way that meets stakeholder expectations. Deadline compliance tracks the team’s ability to manage time-sensitive obligations and maintain reliability under pressure. Internal satisfaction and quality assessments provide insight into how business leaders and clients perceive responsiveness, communication, and overall service quality. Measuring technology utilization and productivity indicators highlights opportunities to improve workflows, automate routine tasks, and leverage legal technology to enhance output without sacrificing quality.
Finally, a balanced litigation scorecard brings these metrics together into a cohesive performance framework. By consistently tracking operational efficiency, litigation outcomes, risk exposure, and stakeholder satisfaction.
About Douglas Herman
Douglas Herman is Chief Legal Officer and Litigation Director at the Hostilo Law Firm in Savannah, Georgia, where he oversees complex personal injury litigation and firmwide legal strategy. He previously practiced with Oliver Maner LLP, Marshall Dennehey, and Caldwell & Kearns. A magna cum laude graduate of Widener University School of Law and the University of Pittsburgh, he maintains a 5.0 Martindale Hubbell rating and has been recognized by Super Lawyers, Best Lawyers in America, and Georgia Trend’s Legal Elite list.
